The weather in Georgia has been fantastic the last month, allowing us to get a lot of long riding in every weekend. A telling test of our preparation and training will be this coming weekend. On Saturday the team, along with some hardy supporters, will ride the full length of the Silver Comet/Chief Ladiga trail system – 110 miles from Smyrna, GA to Anniston, AL. Then on Sunday, we will ride the 100 mile Cheaha Challenge, one of the great mountain centuries here in the Southeast. This double century weekend will give us a good feel for our readiness.

The training plan is pretty serious for the next 2 months. Most of us will be scrambling to squeeze in all the hours and miles we can, inside and out. We should be at 400+ miles a week in May. The beautiful spring weather sure helps, but we could do without the tidal wave of pollen everywhere in Atlanta at the moment.

Some of you have inquired about another key part of the rider’s race preparation: leg shaving! Will we or won’t we? Of course we all know the pros do it, but why would a bunch of 50 year old amateurs? There are three reasons: 1) the pros do it, so it makes us look more like them (sorta like buying the same clubs Tiger does), 2) it makes it easier to clean out road rash, or worse in the event of a spill (which we plan to avoid), and 3) it makes massages easier and more effective. The last one is the most convincing argument and will push at least a couple of us to spend an hour or two with a razor. The other two consider it a matter of pride to leave their hairy pelts intact.

Those of you who followed us last year will remember that on-the-road logistics in this race are as challenging as the riding, and needs almost as much preparation. Since our plan last year seemed to be so successful (either genius or luck, it worked), we will be sticking to the same basic plan with a few minor, but key improvements. We’ll give you some more updates on this as we get closer.

Our Silent Auction at Ormby’s was a great success, raising almost $20,000. It was also a great party and chance to talk with many of you and thank you for your support. Our total to date is now over $50,000! Many, many thanks to all of you who have contributed your time and treasure. If you haven’t, you will be hearing from us! If we hit you up more than once, our apologies. We appreciate how generous you have been and how we are indeed in tough economic times. But our goal is very ambitious and we believe strongly in it, so we are going ask!